Rameniac’s headed to Japan! Along the way, he gets a head start on his slurping with a quick, last-minute bowl at one of his favorite local watering holes. Don’t forget your passport aboard the Hamada Orient Express, LAX’s finest (well, only) old-school, mukashii-shoyu ramen depot.

Okay, so technically it’s “not really ramen,” but rameniac goes island hopping anyway with Myojo Okinawa Soba! Think of it like your cousin from the islands who’s a bit out of touch from living in the middle of the ocean; Okinawa Soba is fishy, squishy, and a noodly good time, brah!

Multi-packed instant ramen has come a long way from the days of Sapporo Ichiban. Nissin’s “Ramenya-san” lineup of plain-wrapped perennials are a step closer to what an instant noodle quick fix should be, and Yokohama Chukasoba is non-fried to boot. Can something be both good and good for you? Here’s a step in the right direction!

You know things are foo-bar’d when a cheap knock off can sully the reputation of a perfectly fine ramen shop. Tucked into the middle of nowhere, the original Foo Foo Tei serves up a menu of David Lynchian weirdness that sounds worse than it really is. Like Twin Peaks, nanchatte paitan ramen isn’t for everyone!

Intrigue plagues the existence of dual Foo Foo Tei in the San Gabriel Valley. Spite and litigation apparently abound, and rumor has it that the Monterey Park branch is merely a cheap knock-off of the Hacienda Heights original. All theatrics aside, are its noodles even worth fussing over? 

Hakata Shin-Sen-Gumi brings the flavor of Fukuoka to an otherwise arid city of dysfunctional pop tarts and baked, rappin’ hot dawgs. If I ruled the world, I’d just ship over an entire fleet of food carts, complete with drunken salarymen and grumpy old ramen masters. Until then, we’ll just have to make do with these guys.

For everyone who’s ever shoved a square peg through a round hole, for everyone who believes in the abominable snowman, this one’s for you. Tokachi Nitsu Seimen-brand Nana Ramen contains seven of the greener things that make you tick. Hug a tree, hold a yoga pose, because vegetarian instant ramen is finally here!

Sandwiched in a strip mall in West L.A.‘s Little Osaka, Kinchans’s svelte location on Sawtelle is within proximity of boba shops, giant robots, and Asian hipsters galore. The place has been around forever, but does anyone actually eat there? If so, excellent. But if not, there has gots to be a reason why!

At long last, rameniac gives a thumbs up/down/sideways to Daikokuya, arguably the most popular ramen shop in Los Angeles ever since Jonathan Gold gave it his seal of approval in the LA Weekly. Curious how you fend off hipsters to get a bowl of your very own?

Cafe Asa is the greatest thing to hit Los Angeles since… well, since my exchange student friend came for a homestay earlier year. But that’s another story. This hidden gem of a place recently appeared out of nowhere to thoroughly own most of the other ramen shops around town! The secret’s out starting now!

It’s that time of year again! This year’s Hokkaido Fair at the Torrance Mitsuwa Marketplace featured Sumire, all the way from Sapporo! The great buttery north of Japan is home to miso ramen and one of the most popular noodle styles on the planet. How does it play in LA?

In the shadow of the Giant Robot empire stands Asahi Ramen, a neighborhood institution on West L.A.‘s Sawtelle Blvd. But the times they are a-changin’. How does a once popular ramen shop stack up in the new era of specialized soups and regional styles?

Rameniac takes his first, tentative steps behind the Orange Curtain to uncover the treasure trove of ramen shops in Los Angeles’ neighbor to the south. Does Chinese Restaurant Kohryu yield a pot of gold at the end of the 405 freeway?

“Made in China” is the scarlet letter for 21st century goods. What happens when you take an enterprising Kumamoto ramen shop, franchise it across Asia, and expand it into Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley? You might get a fiasco of ill-prepared portions. Or something like that.

Every time rameniac visits Japan, he has a few boxes of Taiho Mukashii Ramen sent home. Produced in Kurume Taiho’s very own instant noodle factory, this titular bowl of “old-style” ramen is seasonally available outside of the motherland. Taste the Ariake sea in every slurp of this top-notch treat!

Now that we’ve named the 22 popularized styles of ramen, it’s high time we began… at the beginning. Join rameniac on his pilgrimage to ground zero for tonkotsu ramen, deep in the heart of Fukuoka prefecture. Taiho, it’s off to Kurume we go!

Every great ramen shop deserves an instant noodle version of itself. Nissin Foods and 7&i convenience stores have teamed up to bring us Ippudo Karakamen, a decided spin on a Hakata-style classic. Does it rehydrate into something worthy of the Ippudo name? That’s the ¥398 question, isn’t it?

The venerable Hakata Ippudo will soon be making an all-out overseas assault on a very fortunate midtown Manhattan. What do jaded New Yorkers have in store for them? Check in with rameniac as he parts the red sea for a peak at things to come!

Finding Eastern Hiroshima-style onomichi ramen on a menu in Los Angeles is like finding a gatefold pressing of Scott Walker’s Scott 4 in the dollar bin at your local record store. It just doesn’t happen. Or does it? All things are possible with love and Shin Mama…

An entire nation falls into a burning ring of fire with that standard of Korean slurping, Nong Shim Shin Ramyun instant noodles. Can the spicy stuff go the distance like Anh Jung Hwan and the 2002 World Cup squad? Be the reds and carry them to victory!